Baptised before birth? (General)

by Paul Andrews , Shropshire, England, Friday, July 05, 2019, 17:29 (2003 days ago) @ probinson

The registration of births in England and Wales from 1837 was the responsibility of the local registrar. He would travel through his local district and was expected to record each birth within six weeks of the event. There was no onus on the parents to report this information to the registrar. This situation changed in 1874 with the passing of the Birth and Deaths Registration Act. The Act placed the burden on the family to report the information and fines were imposed from 1875 onwards for late or non-registration.

This registration was recorded on the eighth of September 1855, with the birth being recorded on the twenty ninth of July 1855. Conveniently the two dates are five weeks and six days apart, thus meeting the six week deadline.

It may well be that the birth was before the date on the certificate and that James Ross, the registrar, made an error when making the record.